"This apology is a good start, but we're working with Ratner's people for more action, to clearly send a message to Hollywood that the anti-gay slurs used by bullies and bigots have no place in the world of entertainment, or anywhere else."

A GLAAD rep tells HitFix they hope to have a response later this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

More telling, Academy president Tom Sherak tells Deadline he's standing by Ratner, for now. Sherak is quoted saying, "His remarks were inappropriate. He said it best in his apology, that his comments were dumb and insensitive. When you think of our community, it went against all the beliefs of the creative community we represent. He knew it was wrong and he issued that response as quickly as any human being ever has. The bottom line is, this won’t and can’t happen again. It will not happen again. He apologized and we will move forward. How do I know this? I’ve known this man for a very long time. He has many friends who are members of the gay and lesbian community. The apology he gave I truly believe comes from his heart. If it didn’t believe it, I would do something about it. This is about integrity and honoring the Academy Awards, but we all make mistakes and I believe he didn’t mean it.”

More on this story as news breaks.

Original post: 1:24 PM PST

Just when you thought Brett Ratner might make it through co-producing the Academy Awards without causing controversy or embarrassing himself (let alone the Academy), big Brett opens his big mouth and something idiotic comes out.

According to New York Magazine's Vulture and numerous twitter reports, Ratner appeared at a Q&A for his new movie "Tower Heist" at the Arclight cinemas this weekend and was asked a question by the moderator on whether he rehearses with his actors before a take. The "Rush Hour" helmer reportedly replied saying "Rehearsing is for fags" and dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. From those on hand it wasn't meant as a joke and was said matter of fact.

It's no secret Ratner has a frat boy reputation and his sex life is bizarrely discussed more than any other filmmaker of the modern era, but any homophobic tendencies haven't been public up until this point. Ratner provided a statement to the Wrap this morning saying:

"I apologize for any offense my remarks caused. It was a dumb way of expressing myself. Everyone who knows me knows that I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body. But as a storyteller I should have been much more thoughtful about the power of language and my choice of words."

What's most disheartening here isn't the fact Ratner considers himself a storyteller (don't get me started), but that in this age of teen suicides due to intense bullying he deemed his off the cuff comment as a "dumb way of expressing" himself. Even if it was primarily an adult audience, Ratner was in a public venue speaking on behalf of an expensive motion picture he directed. His number one responsibility would be to make sure he doesn't say anything offensive or detrimental to his work, let alone offensive to the audience. In 2011, it just never occurred to Ratner that using the word "fags" in a public setting wasn't acceptable. The fact he didn't even apologize or refer to his comment that night during the rest of the Q&A is the more startling faux pas here. And this, ladies and gentleman, is the man co-producing Hollywood's premier yearly event (often referred to as the "Gay Super Bowl").

Oh, and should we mention that at least four of the the co-producers over the past three years are openly gay men? Producer Laurence Mark, director Bill Condon, producer Bruce Cohen and producer and director Adam Shakman. Boy will that be a fun Oscar luncheon if Ratner is still around. Or how about all those gay men working on his marketing campaign for "Heist" at Universal? Or, who have helped cover his ass on film after film trying to make it look like he has some semblance of talent? Yes, all those gays and lesbians in Hollywood who helped make him rich must have loved reading that.

Grantland's Mark Harris is calling for Ratner's head, but AMPAS president Tom Sherak is unlikely to fire his controversial new producer (at least not yet). Ratner has already pulled off a coup by bringing in Eddie Murphy to host the show and this feels like an event they will hope will quickly be forgotten. Plus, if Ratner hadn't been brought on, the Academy literally had no one else in the movie business who wanted the job and might have found themselves - gasp - with a stage producer organizing the show with the returning Don Misher (another huge mistake, but we digress...).

To be frank, Ratner's public relations skills are so out of date something like this had to be expected at some point. And yes, as a gay man I'm offended by Ratner using the f-word, but, I mean, it's Brett Ratner. I'm not surprised. I'm not shocked. I'm just depressed a man who has shown so little talent keeps floating to the top and making a fool out of our industry and art form. That's the real reason Sherak should let him go as this year's Oscar producer.

What do you think?

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"Ratner has already pulled off a coup by bringing in Eddie Murphy to host the show" -- really?? That was his first widely derided decision, and one can be sure there will be more. How was that a coup? Did Murphy have reservations for dinner that night that he had to cancel? He sure wasn't working.

Just because you throw a word around casually doesn't make it ok. You're saying more about yourself than the situation. It's not an over reaction when people like yourself, using that word casually, makes thousands of gay teens think about or actually kill themself. "Gays", makes it seem like you don't know anyone who is or you wouldn't refer to them as such. Do you also say blacks, when referring to African Americans? It would do you a lot of good to look at the world and realize that there is much more to it than your ego and fickle justifications for people being hateful

Don't know what world you live in but as a gay male if it is your type of thinking that makes it ok to say stuff like that. It isn't ok, not even in a joke or not, and if gay guys or girls make comments to each other it isn't the same, but you have to live the life to know the difference.

It just goes to show that homosexuals are indeed the last group in America that we're allowed to hate, freely use slurs against and who are not granted the same legal rights as their fellow countrymen. This issue continues to disgust me. If this was pre-civil rights movement, this would be happening to the black race. It's 2011--WTF?? How is this behavior still socially and legally acceptable?

If he had said "rehearsing is for sissies" would there be an uproar? If you can honestly say that you don't immediately recognize that this was his meaning, you're an idiot. Poor choice of words, not of intent.

'Nigger' has no acceptable double-meaning, 'fag' does, whether appropriate or not. I'm not suggesting it wasn't tasteless, just that it wasn't some sort of hateful or bullying screed that bears lashing from GLAAD. What if he had said "rehearsing is for dummies?" Is that insensitive to people with speech impediments? Yes, "fag" means *that*, but it also means something else, whether you, GLAAD, or anybody else likes it or not.

No, Steve. "Fag" does not have an acceptable double-meaning. No matter how many times you twist yourself in knots to try and make it happen, there is no acceptable usage of the word. Thanks for playing, though.

Well, Steve, I don't know where you're from, but as someone who lives in the hick part of Pennsylvania, I can tell you that people absolutely use the n-word the same way they use fag (as in a stupid, lame, or generally disagreeable person). There may be more of a social stigma against its "double meaning," but it exists. Either both are "acceptable" or neither are.

And this isn't directed at anyone in particular, but it's disingenuous to compare straight people using the words "fags," "homo" and/or "gay" as insults (interesting pattern for so-called harmless remarks, by the way, don't you think?) to gay people identifying themselves as queer or the use of the word "moron." When gay people refer to themselves as gay, it's a factual statement. When you call someone who makes an idiotic decision stupid, it's a factual statement. When you call someone "gay" and you really mean "stupid," then what you're saying is "Well, both things suck, so close enough." Bitch and moan about the PC police all you want, but it's not that hard to understand why people would be offended. Maybe the harshness of GLAAD's response to Ratner is uncalled for, but then, so was the statement itself. But if you can't see that, I don't know what else to tell you.

You really mean to tell me anybody in your life has said "I have to work this weekend? That's totally nigger." Matt, as I said, the use of "fag" in this (or any) manner can easily be called inappropriate. Trying to paint it as hateful or bullying is asinine.

"That's crazy" (Just try using the word crazy-- A genuine pejorative-- against those with mental health problems, or those who care for them)

"That's dumb" (So, somebody with a speech impediment is less intelligent than you?)

"Sorry, I spazzed out." (I acted like somebody suffering from cerebral palsy, and therefore behaved less like a human)

"He's completely bastardizing my favorite book." (The adaptation of my favorite book is so bad it reminds me of a motherless child, which is a terrible stigma you should be ashamed of, shunned to the streets for, or in many cases killed for)

ALL of this was highly offensive at one time, or at least highly cruel (if the time period didn't allow for notions like offensive). They're now benign turns of phrase that people use left and right without thought to who it might offend. Words change, the way society uses them changes, and life goes on. Just as hateful words morph out of innocent ones, so too do innocent words morph out of hateful ones.

The fact that you bring your argument down to an absurd level just proves that you're a clueless simpleton. Your example of words that have changed is a ridiculous excuse for trying to justify an idiotic comment by Ratner. The fact that you put so much time and energy into defending this slur is truly sad.

Everybody should dial it down a bit. The man is clearly an insensitive moron who uses "gay" interchangeably with "stupid," but I doubt he's a homophobe in the "aggressively dislikes homosexuals" way. And using the very real issue of teen suicide as ammunition to call for his job is frankly insulting to everybody it concerns.

That said, it's a headshake moment for sure. Leaving aside the obvious fact that he sounds like an ignoramus, and is insulting legions of filmmakers infinitely more talented than he is, what was he even trying to say? That only losers prepare? Did he think people would think he was cool because he sounded like he didn't give a crap (and used "fag" the way a middle school student would)? And that's seriously the best response he could think of to a question about rehearsal? To me it just underlines what a soulless hack he is -- good at giving the lowest-common denominator what he thinks they want to hear, but having absolutely nothing worthwhile to say.